Football aka Soccer

Soccer is the biggest sport in many countries in the world including Jordan. I will have to admit that I have never been the biggest soccer fan. I simply was never around it growing up. About the most soccer exposure I ever had was talking to my cousin who is an amazing soccer player and playing soccer in PE, but neither one of those qualify me as an expert by any means. I had never even seen a soccer game live until a few years ago and until now, I had never watched a soccer game on TV. This Sunday, Spain and Italy will face off in the championships of the Euro Cup. Underdog Italy upset Germany yesterday with a final score of 2-1. I didn't actually go watch that game, but the day before, I went to a restaurant called Baboonej and enjoyed the game along with many other interns and even more Jordanians. Jerseys from both the Spain and Portugal team filled the restaurant along with many snide remarks about both teams. Conversation was starting to get pretty heated and then the game started. That is one great thing about watching competitions like this: you can let the players do the talking. I was privileged enough to hear many people talk big games for various players, but to someone who knew next to nothing about the teams, they were virtually meaningless words until I saw the players actually back them up. I was also lucky enough to sit next to people who were experts on the game. Shortly after the game started, the hookah smoke started drifting freely about the room. We had run into a group from the BYU Jerusalem Center, but after a bit, the hookah smoke was getting to them and they left to find some fresh air. We'll give them a break because they didn't have enough time to get used to Jordan. Yelling at the TV also started up about the same time. I didn't do enough of that to lose my voice, but there were many others who did. That's devotion to a team right there. The game was a low-scoring but exciting game. After overtime, the score was still 0-0. Penalty kicks decided the game and Spain came away with the win to the delight and relief of many in our party and to the disgruntlement of others. I was just happy to be there!

=)

Raindrops

The Castle

It wouldn't be lying to say that Jordan is the driest place that I have ever lived. When we arrived in the middle of May, the vegetation was already dry and brownd. I don't know what this place looks like in the winter, but I imagine that is the time when things are green and beautiful. I was surprised at the amount of dead vegetation I saw. Back home, May is when things turn from brown to green because we have finally reached the end of the winter. The snow melts, usually we get some showers and then things really start to dry out until the end of July to the middle of August when we get thunder storms. However, to my surprise, I didn't have to wait until I go home to see rain. Prior to coming, I had heard that they had received a couple of showers in late May the last year. I also know how big of a shock that was to the people in Amman including my director Annie who had never seen rain that late in the year before. My time in Amman has been a dry experience excluding the time spent in bodies of salt water known as Aqaba and the Dead Sea. However things were shook up a bit last Friday. The day started early on a bus headed to Northern Jordan. The first stop was a place called Um Qais. There, many Roman ruins lay on a hill overlooking the sea of Galilee. When I stepped off the bus, I remarked to my roommate that the air felt a bit more humid than usual. It didn't feel humid, but it didn't feel as dry as it has been either. That day, I also saw some clouds which is also a rare occurrence in Jordan. One of the really neat things about touring Roman ruins in Jordan is that you can walk through them and touch them and walk and stand on them. I have a feeling that if they had been in America, you would only be able to stand on a raised boardwalk and look at but don't touch the ruins.  After Um Qais, we headed south to Ajlun where a castle is still standing that was built about 500 AD. It has a long history that includes several different empires and consequent additions onto the castle. At the castle, we were able to explore nearly every nook and cranny. I did decide that if you were to have a castle, the Middle East would be the place for that. In a dry climate, moving from sunshine to the shade is at least a 10 degree difference, but moving from shade into the castle, we got another 20 degree difference. It was very cool inside that castle in more ways than one. We left the castle and climbed back on the bus to head to Jerash which has another city of Roman ruins. I believe it is actually the most complete city of Roman ruins. However, prior to going to Jerash, we took a pit stop at a game refuge. The main attraction was some deer. They looked very similar to the deer back in the States except that they keep their spots even when they are older. There were also a few people offering horseback rides on half-dead looking horses. I didn't take them up on the offer, but I did notice that the horse's tail were splayed out as if there was a storm coming. I didn't think too much of it until it started raining. It wasn't a downpour, but the rain was definitely heavy enough to get the road wet and slick. After that, our bus was fishtailing around the corners on every switchback down the mountain. We didn't die, but we also weren't able to go see the ruins in Jerash. However, a group that went on the same trip the next day reported that the castle in Ajlun was still wet and damp.  Maybe it rained a bit harder than I thought.

=)

Happy Endings

A few nights ago, I attended a film festival and watched a Jordanian film called “Habibi.”  It was in Arabic with English subtitles. The story takes place in Gaza and revolves around two people who met at college before they had to leave and go to Gaza because of the Israeli occupation. In the movie, a friend is killed by the Israeli soldiers. Because of that the main character's (Layla's) brother joins the Hamas. Layla loves a man named Qays but he is a poet who didn't finish his degree and is now working in construction. Consequently her family thinks that he is not good enough for her. Through his sorrows, he paints poetry of his love for Layla on the walls around Gaza. The words in the poems are enough to start people to talking about Layla. So her family decides that in order to save her honor, she must be married right away to a man that she doesn't love. Qays and Layla try to run away, but he is caught with a fake visa and the plan simply falls apart. After both returning to their homes, they commit suicide. He goes too close to the border where he is sure to be shot and she goes to the sea and drowns herself.
 That is how the movie ends. The storyline reminds me a bit of Romeo and Juliet, but I never really cared for that story either. I'm definitely an American when it comes to movie preferences. I like happy endings. I have also heard the flip side that many people dislike American films because they all have happy endings and that isn't real life. Maybe it isn't completely true to real life, but when you see that someone got their own happily ever after, it gives you a bit of hope that you can also find a happily ever after. In my mind it's much nicer to go through life hoping for something better than to go through life thinking that there is no way that anything good can come of life, that life is just too hard to be enjoyed.
Another interesting thing about this film is that the director also played the main character of Layla. I don't know how common this is, but she did do a great job with both roles. After showing the film, they had a brief question and answer session with the director. One of the more interesting questions was about the hijab. The character of Layla seemed to be the type of person who wouldn't wear a hijab. However, as the director pointed out, in Gaza, women wear the hijab even if they aren't religious. So to portray someone not wearing the hijab would be unrealistic. Also if I understood what she said correctly, she also mentioned that she wanted to show that there is more to every person under the hijab. Another funny question was how the main character smoking was important to the story. Were they partly funded by a cigarette company? The director hadn't even thought of that. They weren't funded by a cigarette company, but for Layla, it was a way to destress. They were probably a destresser for the director as well. Directing a film is no easy task especially when you are also playing the role of the main character as well. I'm sure she needed some way to destress. However, it just makes you wonder why she didn't choose to bake a chocolate cake or brownies instead. I find that to be a marvelous destresser.

=)

Connections

If I'm not making Cokeville connections, I'm making BYU connections. Last night, I met a girl who will be attending BYU this coming fall, in sha' allah. The visit was actually a planned event for the purpose of introducing her to some fellow BYU cougars. She just graduated from high school and wants to study accounting at BYU. Basically, she chose the right school seeing as how our accounting program is within the top five in the country. She seemed excited at the prospect of a new adventure, but her father seemed a bit nervous. I can't blame him. It would be hard to send your daughter to the other side of the world in order to go to school. He tried to talk her into going to Turkey, but she wanted to go to America. The reason he tried to get her to consider Turkey is because that is the place where he will be spending a great deal of time over the next several years as the Jordanian ambassador to Turkey. Their house was beautiful! And ginormous. I basically spent the first five minutes at their house trying to scrape my jaw off the floor. First we went through a greeting line that strongly reminded me of going through the line at a wedding reception in the States. Just after the line was the sitting room where we were served lemon and mint juice which is very delicious. We sat and chatted for a while then moved outside to the porch and did a bit more of the same. When the food was ready, we moved back inside to a large room that was perfect for serving a large group in many different ways. The food was delicious! My personal favorite was freekeh which is a dish made from green wheat with chicken piled on top.  I was also glad that I wasn't the only girl that went back for seconds. After dinner, we moved back to the porch for dessert of kanafa and watermelon. After chatting for a bit longer, we then had tea. I took the za'atar tea that was made from fresh leaves picked from their herb garden right next to the porch. We finally arrived back at our apartment at 12:30 this morning. And I almost promptly went to bed. It was a great evening!

=)

Let's Party!

Weddings are a big deal in most cultures, but in Arab societies weddings are the biggest holidays. The wedding celebration starts the evening before the actual wedding at the home of the groom. A few days ago, I arrived at one of these parties at 7 pm after receiving an invitation from the uncle of the groom. One of the biggest differences between this celebration and parties in America is that the women party in one area and the men party in a separate area. So after arriving, the women in our group left the guys to their own devices and entered the women's tent. Over the next hour, many more women arrived and filled up the tent. Then the dance party really began. Men were not allowed in the tent, so several of the women removed their hijabs and let their hair down. Some girls had long, beautiful hair that hung down to their waist while others had beautiful hair that was about at their shoulders. One thing I learned about Arab dancing is that I'm just as bad at that, almost, as at “American” dancing. I think the Arab women rather enjoyed watching a few American girls try to fit in. It didn't work very well especially for the blonde ones... Eventually, the women and girls lost their reservations about us. The younger girls, around 14 years old, were especially interested in us and kept asking us questions about things from dancing to jewelry to college life to what we thought about Jordan. Some of the girls became like additional arms because they stayed right next to us. During the five hours following our arrival, the women's tent was a big dance party with some henna on the side and the men's area was one explosion after another. Fireworks galore were set off all through the evening. Handguns and shotguns carrying blanks were also shot off at random intervals. Bubbles, foam, and sparklers decorated the area and music pulsed through the air from every corner. Mansuf was the main course. One word: Delicious! The only problem with the food was that we didn't eat until 1 in the morning. We also ate it with our hands so it was a good thing that I had practiced once before so I didn't look like a total idiot... just half of an idiot. I love that Arabs make such a big deal about weddings. What a wonderful thing!
=)

Breakfast =)

This morning for breakfast I ate chocolate cake and I feel great about that! Last night I realized that I had all of the ingredients that I needed to make a chocolate cake in my cupboard. So I whipped up the batter, poured it in a pan and prayed that I had the oven close to 350 degrees F. Cooking on our stove is very different from the cooking I have done on other stoves. For one, this stove is gas powered. I have cooked on a gas powered stove before, but the other ones I have cooked on had more than two settings for the flame like this one has. I also don't think I have used a gas powered oven to bake anything before. One of the trickiest things is that we can only light the bottom of our oven. This meant the top was the last thing to finish cooking. All I can say is the domestic goddesses must have been with me because my cake didn't burn! Ice cream on the side and strawberries on top finished the plate and made for a well-rounded meal in more ways than one. The first is that cake this delicious is very good for maintaining a well-rounded shape. The second is that every food group was represented. Sugar, of course, made up the fats section. Strawberries contributed for the fruit. The eggs in the cake were the protein. Ice cream is definitely dairy. Flour is a grain. And chocolate is a vegetable considering that it comes from cocoa beans. If that doesn't convince you, just google it and you'll see what I'm talking about. I know you are all jealous about my breakfast, so I won't tell you that it was also the main course last night – with a portion of chicken and rice on the side.

=)

Playdough!

One of my favorite activities growing up was to help my mom make playdough. I love adding the food coloring so that it turned out as my favorite color, but even more than that I really enjoyed the places you could go with a healthy imagination and some playdough. The possibilities are basically endless. What isn't endless is my list of craft ideas for the kids at the orphanage. So I hoped that if I brought playdough to the orphanage, I could entertain them for at least a week. Making the dough was almost as fun as I remembered and just as messy. My hands were an interesting tie-dye of colors for a couple days until the dyes rubbed off my skin. In one night, I made three batches of playdough and turned the dough twelve different colors. By the end of day one, we were down to eight colors which was better than one color. We also had a major mess on the floor. Some of the younger kids just didn't quite understand that the goal was to play with the dough on the table and not tear off small pieces to throw on the ground. Day two saw slightly better results with the dough staying off of the floor and colors that leaned toward gray at the end of the day. Day three is coming up. I'm rather excited to see how long this playdough will last because the day the kids get bored of playing with it is the day that I will need to come up with another craft...

=)

Burn!

As I walked up the hill toward the orphanage today, I passed a group of boys gathered around a fire. Some parts of this scenario weren't very strange, but others were most definitely interesting. For starters, it's not uncommon to see people burning garbage, but that usually takes place in one of the metal garbage cans that line the streets or in a deserted field in the middle of a group of apartment buildings and not on the middle of a sidewalk. It's also extremely common to walk by a group of boys or several groups of boys in that part of town. However I think the thing that struck me the most was what they were burning. Textbooks and old homework. School is out for the summer! I can't count the number of times that I have threatened to burn my textbooks, but the hope that someday I will be able to sell them back to the BYU Bookstore before they reach their quota has stopped me multiple times. Maybe this next semester, I'll just cut my losses, burn the books, and count it towards money spent for entertainment.

Fate of the Textbooks

=)

Mandi

It turns out that eating with your hands is an art form. There are many dishes here that are traditionally eaten from a big communal dish with your hands. With some of them, pita bread becomes the vehicle to get the food from the giant platter, with others, your fingers are the vehicle. If you have seen toddlers eat with their hands, you know how easy, and messy, it appears to be. All they have to do is stick their hands in whatever is placed before them and smear it around their face. This method would be a great diet because only a portion of the food actually makes it into your mouth. However, since we should be acting like grown-ups and not toddlers, it is generally frowned upon to make a mess while you are eating. It is also frowned upon to touch the food vehicle to your mouth and then put it back in the communal dish. In some cultures this is known as double dipping. But I have to say that when eating with your hands, the temptation to lick your fingers is pretty strong. Today I received my first lesson on eating with your hands. The name of the dish was mandi, a rice-based meal with chicken on top. I don't know what spices were used in the rice, but labna, a hot sauce, and some minced vegetables were also set on the table to eat with the rice. The setting was a table, low to the ground, with long couch cushions against the wall which are very convenient for taking a nice nap following a big meal. It took me a while to figure out how to eat appropriately with my hands, but after laughing at me a bit, one of the other, more experienced eaters, showed me what I needed to do.

Step 1: Add labna, hot sauce, chicken and/or veggies to your area of rice.
Step 2: Go ahead and mix that around a bit. Just make sure you stay in your area. It's very rude to mixwhat is in someone else's area or what is on the entire platter.
Step 3: Gather a bit of the rice mixture into your hand. Try to keep as much as possible of it toward the top of your hand. Things just get a bit more difficult if the food is all the way down to your pinky.
Step 4: Squeeze the rice. You want it to form a ball and the labna will help with that. If you don't squeeze it enough, it won't stick together. If you squeeze it too much, the juices will run out and it won't stick together.
Step 5: Move your thumb so that it is under the ball of rice and push it into your mouth. Be careful so that you don't stick your thumb in your mouth as well.
Step 6: Repeat until satisfied.

The food was delicious and part of that might have been the fact that it took so long to get every bite into my mouth so I had plenty of time to anticipate each one. One member of the group was a Jordanian. I was rather impressed at how efficient that method of eating can be. It was also pretty impressive to see how clean his hands stayed. I had to use several napkins afterward to clean up the extra labna, rice, and hot sauce that couldn't find their way to my mouth. All in all, it was a great adventure, one I hope to repeat soon.

=)

Hugs and Laughter

Looking down at Amman from the Citadel

The warm greeting I received at the orphanage today was the perfect beginning for a very hot day. The outside temperature reached over 100 degrees F today. But that's another story. Choruses of “Selina!” greeted me when I opened the door to one of the activities rooms. Along with that came numerous hugs from some kids who settled for hugging my knee and others who were able to reach my waist. Every hug was wonderful though. Children are blessed with an amazing capacity to love and trust others. I can't imagine how hard it would be to walk in their shoes, but they do it with a smile. It's fun to see how the simple pleasures in life can bring such joy into their lives. Paper airplanes, paper frogs that actually jump, a hug, a story, doing a puzzle, and many other simple things are enough to bring a light into their eyes, a smile on their faces, or even laughter. In the baby room, causing laughter is a game. So many of the babies are always smiling and seem to be on the brink of hysterical laughter without actually falling over the edge. I'm not always successful with getting them to laugh, but after being successful a time or two, I have decided that the laughter of a child is one of the best sounds in the world.

Newspapers

Samurai hats made from newspaper are pretty legit, but getting the newspaper for the hats was an adventure. Every day on my way to work, I pass several places that sell newspapers. The craft that I had planned a couple days ago was to make newspaper hats, not just any newspaper hat, but samurai newspaper hats. So that day, I actually stopped at one of the many places to pick up a newspaper. I knew that I would have at least twenty kids making crafts that day with me, so I simply picked up the biggest newspaper there. I asked the store owner how much it was and he spouted off something really fast. Somewhere in all of that I was able to pick out what I thought he said the price was. I was right on what I thought he said the price was and he was right on what the confused look on my face was. “English?” When I said that I did indeed speak English, he was kind enough to show me The Jordan Times, a two page spread in English. He was also a bit put out that I didn't want it, but I was running a bit late to work and didn't want to explain what I was doing with the paper. Besides I could practice reading news articles from what was left over. I didn't think we would use all of it, but we somehow managed to use it all and wish it was a little bit bigger.

=)

Salty Water

Yesterday I hit a new low: 1388 feet below sea level. Visiting the Dead Sea was an interesting experience. For example, once in the Dead Sea, I could actually float without needing to move my arms to stay above water. I couldn't even do that in the Red Sea. It was slightly unnerving at first to see several other people out in the water at a distance that they couldn't possibly be standing, and yet, their shoulders were out of the water. All you had to do was walk until you could no longer touch the bottom and suddenly you were floating. The water was extremely salty and I found out that I had a few more small cuts on my hands and feet than I had thought. A fellow intern attempted swimming normally, but splashed water up into his face. His eyes were red from the salt and he looked a bit sick from the water that had reached his mouth. Imagine water that is several times saltier than ocean water and then give it an oily taste and you have the Dead Sea water. After spending some time floating in the Dead Sea, some of us headed down the beach a ways to find some good Dead Sea mud. Apparently the high salt content makes it a great exfoliator. So we rubbed down with some dark brown mud, let it bake for a minute in the hot sun until it was dry and then washed it off. Between that and the oily water, my skin felt pretty good. It was also really neat to see how high the salt content was in the water. After swimming in the Red Sea, I had some streaks of salt deposits on me where the water dried, but after swimming in the Dead Sea, I had a good 1/8 inch of salt covering my skin.

Earlier that day we had visited Mount Nebo and the place where Jesus Christ was baptized by the Jordan River. Mount Nebo was different than I had expected. Mount Nebo is not very much higher in elevation than Amman, but from the lookout spot on Mount Nebo, you could see Jericho, the Dead Sea, and much of the surrounding area. From there we went down to the Jordan River. Most of the landscape near the river was the same as the rest of Jordan: basically a desert. However, when we got closer to the river, we were suddenly thrust into the middle of a tangle of bushes and sea cedar trees. These cedar trees look just like any other cedar tree, but they can utilize sea water. Evidence of this is found easily enough. Licking one of the cedar leaves, leaves a salty taste in your mouth. I was a bit surprised at the location of the baptism site. I had always assumed that it was in the middle of the Jordan River, but it wasn't. Archeologists have found what they believe is the baptism site which is a spot located just east of the river in a rather secluded area. Support for this theory comes because of the many ruins of church building that were built around the area as well as records kept by many of the ancient churches. There was very little water in the baptism site because of how dry the weather is, but the ravines around the area lead me to believe that in the winter, there is actually quite a bit of water there. Soon, we reached the Jordan River.  The water was green, murky, and not very cold.  But that only makes sense because the temperature outside was hot enough to make me start melting - almost literally.

=)

Dedication

It has been interesting to see how dedicated the people are to their religion. Most taxis that I have ridden in have been playing Qur'an recitations which I have decided are some of the most beautiful, soul-filled sounds ever. I might even track down a CD to take back with me. Many people walk around carrying prayer beads to remember the 99 wonderful names of God and consequently remember the many wonderful things that he has done for them and blessed them with. Another wonderful thing is that nearly half of the books in book stores are the Qur'an. I also feel that the hijab can be a reminder for many women of the promises they have made to God and their duty toward Him. At the orphanage, it has been rather interesting to see how Islam is a part of everything they do. Before and after eating, the children are sent to wash their face and hands so that they will be clean because that's what Islam says to do. At other times, the children are taught what to say before eating or when they are given something in order to show their gratitude towards God. One particular time, I was present while they children were being taught a prayer. It was done in a call-response manner, but the thing that really stood out to me is that the woman who was teaching them told them to speak in a loud voice to show their sincerity. I'm sure there other reasons for wanting the children to use a loud voice such as to make sure they are actually participating, but it's just one example of how devout these wonderful people are to their religion.

It's also touching to see the concern that they have for your welfare. I have only been approached once when they were actually trying to convert me, but the experience was rather neat. At first, it was just a young boy, probably 10 years old or so, who was talking to a small group of us. What were we doing at the time? Sitting on a dock at Aqaba staring at the city lights coming from both Jordan and Israel. A little way above us was a beautiful mosque that was lit up like a temple and stood out like one as well. After getting to know us a little bit, he asked us if we had seen the mosque. When we responded in the affirmative, he then told us that was the place where he went to pray and asked us if we prayed. I don't think he was expecting us to tell him that we prayed every day, but shortly after that, his uncle came over and recited a piece of the Qur'an for us. It was very beautiful and about missionary work. He was just doing his Muslim duty to try and make sure that the ignorant foreigners had a chance to be saved. What would the world be like if everyone had the same type of concern for everyone else? Dang good. That's what it would be like.

=)

Quote for the day:
LIFE is not easy for any of us, but it is a continued challenge, and it is up to us to be cheerful and to be strong, so that those who depend on us may draw strength from our example.
~Unknown

Social Norms

Cute family at Petra.

At times, the checklist of do's and don'ts seemed to be miles of small things that I was sure I would never remember. Things such as eye contact, smiling in public, and riding shotgun were forbidden. But these things are simply the result of street-smarts and a different style of respect. I feel like people, and especially women, need to be cautious wherever they are traveling whether it's Chicago or Amman. In Amman, this includes going out of your way to avoid contact with the other gender. Things such as handling money in such a way that hands don't touch and sitting in taxis without touching those around you start to become habit. It has been interesting to see how men and women react in many different situations. For example, sitting in the front seat of a taxi is a manly thing to do, so women generally don't do that. However, if there are three male passengers and one female passenger in the taxi, the men will shift in order to give the woman the front seat and therefore give her a nicer journey. There have been several times where I have been the first the passenger to climb into the service taxi only to have three other men ride in the same taxi. Almost every time, as the last man arrives at the taxi, the other two men have climbed out of the taxi to allow me to also climb out of the taxi and ride shotgun. What gentlemen! Not smiling at people is one thing that is rather difficult for many people to get used to. In America, smiling is a way of acknowledging people. Here, smiling is flirting and therefore something that you probably shouldn't do in public places. During the first few days I was here, I tried to watch native women and my facilitator to see how they acted in public. It was rather interesting to see how quickly their business face came on. Annie, my facilitator, wouldn't even greet us interns in public with a smile. For now the smile will just have to stay in the apartment and around the kids I work with...

=)

Sand!

 

Between Petra, Wadi Rum, and Aqaba, I probably brought home a whole sand dune! Petra, one of the seven wonders of the world, is several beautiful buildings carved into the sandstone cliff faces of Southern Jordan. One of the most ornate buildings was actually part of the set for the Indiana Jones movie which is where most of its fame comes from. This year marks the 200^th anniversary from the rediscovery of Petra. I can only imagine walking through a narrow canyon that looks like something from Arches national park and then coming around a corner to stare at a giant edifice carved into the wall of the canyon. It was so fascinating to see how advanced this culture must have been. Blocks of stone created a pathway that wound through the canyons. Small aqueducts lined the paths that led to these beautiful buildings. Roman ruins lay on top of some of the older ruins. An amphitheater carved into the rock sat just off to the side of one road while older Bedouin dwellings sat on the other side. After trekking through the ruins at Petra, we headed off into the heart of Jordan: Wadi Rum or the Valley of Rum.  However, all the rum was all gone so instead we played football in the sand, participated in a Bedouin dance party, rode in some beat up Toyota trucks, watched the sun set over the desert, and went star-gazing from the top of a sand dune. Bucket List: Check! The next morning we headed out to Aqaba or the gulf of the Red Sea that touches Jordan. From our spot on the beach, we were in Jordan and could see Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. The Red Sea was beautiful! Picture water as blue as Bear Lake the difference is that the water in the Red Sea is salty. The water is also very clear which was very helpful for going snorkeling. This was my first successful snorkeling adventure! And it was a great first time. I swam through several schools of fish and swam away from even more jelly fish. I was only tossed into the coral twice, but fortunately I wasn't cut up. While most of my time in Aqaba was spent in the water, I did spend a bit of time looking at the town. One shop I poked my head into was owned by a man named Osama, but not Bin Laden. =) After chatting for a few minutes, his brother also dropped by. His brother is the Imam of the nearby mosque and invited me to come and look at it. So yeah. I got a tour of a beautiful mosque by the Imam. What an amazing opportunity! This actually provided an opening to understand how Osama and his brother, the Imam, live their religion. Both told me multiple times that everyone in the world are brothers. Osama even has a Bible in his shop. It is in English, so that makes reading it difficult, but the fact that he kept it shows the respect that he has for other religions and the tolerance that Islam has for other religions as well. This is something that I think a lot of people don't really see or think about when they look at Islam. Just something to think about.

=)